Saddam Hussein Executed

Saddam Hussein Executed

December 30, 2006 -- Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been executed, Iraqi state television reports.

According to the reports, the deposed Iraqi dictator was executed by hanging at dawn.

Intial reports that Hussein's half-brother, Barzan al-Tikriti, and former judge Awad al-Bander were also executed were later denied by Iraqi officials.

Earlier, an adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Hussein would be hanged at dawn today. He said the time was agreed upon during a meeting on December 29 between U.S. and Iraqi officials.

AP reported that official witnesses to the impending execution gathered in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone and a gallows had been erected.

International Reaction

U.S. President George W. Bush issued a written statement saying that Hussein's execution was a milestone for the Iraqi people and his trial was "the kind of justice [Hussein] denied the victims of his brutal regime."

In London, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said Saddam had been "held to account," but added the British government did not support capital punishment in Iraq or elsewhere.

Iraqi state television ran footage of Hussein-era atrocities.

U.S. forces in Iraq have also been put on high alert.

In the United States, a judge refused to stop Hussein’s execution, rejecting a last-minute court challenge by the former Iraqi president.

On November 5, the three men were convicted of crimes against humanity over the killings of 148 Shi'ite men. An Iraqi appeals court upheld the death sentence on December 26.

Hussein was captured by U.S. troops hiding near his hometown in Tikrit on December 13, 2004.

(compiled from agency reports)

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Saddam Hussein Executed